New Taxes and an Aging Population: Health Insurance Premiums to Climb Over 4% in 2026
Health insurance premiums in France are expected to rise once again in 2026, influenced by increasing healthcare costs and newly imposed taxes.
On December 16, 2025, the National Federation of French Mutuals (FNMF) announced that premiums for health mutuals will increase by an average of 4.3% for individual contracts—covering students, unemployed people, and retirees—and 4.7% for collective contracts, such as employer-provided coverage.
Mutuals, which account for 40% of the individual health insurance market and 16% of collective coverageaccording to France Assureurs, attribute this rise to ongoing structural trends in healthcare as well as recent government policies.
Rising Healthcare Costs
Healthcare spending in France has been on a steady upward trajectory. Between 2013 and 2020, annual healthcare expenditure increased by an average of 1.8% per year, according to the Directorate for Research, Studies, Evaluation, and Statistics (Drees). Since 2020, the pace of spending growth has accelerated sharply, climbing 22% over five years(roughly 4.4% annually). In 2024 alone, healthcare expenses grew by 3.6%.
Unlike the Social Security system, mutuals cannot borrow to cover budget shortfalls. As the FNMF explains, they must therefore adjust premiums according to projected healthcare costs. Historically, the difference between premium growth and benefits growth has been minimal, averaging only 0.3% per year between 2011 and 2024.
Several factors are driving this trend. The population is aging: in 2024, life expectancy at birth reached 80 years for men and 85.6 years for women, while healthy life expectancy remained much lower, around 63–64 years. Longer lifespans and chronic illnesses—affecting 12 million people in France in 2021—increase demand for long-term care. Additionally, advances in medical science have introduced increasingly sophisticated and expensive treatments, which are partially reimbursed by both Social Security and complementary insurance.
Impact of New Taxes and Charges
The FNMF also highlights the effect of recent government measures. Mutuals are now facing additional charges amounting to hundreds of millions of euros, including contributions toward hospital funding (€400 million) and daily allowances for sick leave (€600 million), partly due to reduced Social Security coverage.
Significantly, a new exceptional contribution of 2.05% on premiums will be introduced under the 2026 Social Security Financing Law, effectively adding to existing solidarity taxes. According to the FNMF, this creates a “healthcare VAT” of approximately €1 billion, bringing the total taxation on premiums to 16%, one of the highest rates in Europe.
The federation calls for measures to improve efficiency, reduce redundant procedures, combat fraud, and invest in prevention, warning that without such action, healthcare premiums will continue to climb year after year due to the aging population and costly medical innovations.
Previously, the government justified some of these charges as a way to offset planned increases in out-of-pocket costs for medications and medical consultations—measures that were ultimately not implemented. Mutuals emphasize that their budgets are prepared before budget debates, leaving no room for retroactive adjustments.
For French policyholders, the message is clear: health insurance premiums are set to rise in 2026.
